It’s not every day that a flight is canceled because a passenger spots a maintenance issue with the aircraft, but… that’s exactly what appears to have happened in the UK earlier this week? Thanks to @MGWScouseActor for flagging this.
In this post:
Passenger’s observation cancels Virgin Atlantic flight
This incident happened on Monday, January 15, 2024, and involves Virgin Atlantic flight VS127, intended to operate from Manchester (MAN) to New York (JFK). The flight was scheduled on a roughly 13-year-old Airbus A330-300 with the registration code G-VGEN.
According to media reports, just prior to departure, a passenger noticed a problem with the wing, and made the crew aware of this.
Now, ordinarily one would assume that if a random passenger notices something that looks “off,” they’re just confused, rather than there actually being something wrong. However, in this case maintenance personnel were called, and the flight ended up being canceled as a “precautionary measure,” so that relevant checks and repairs could be performed. The issue was reportedly that the tops of four fasteners on a wing panel were missing.
Here’s what a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson had to say about this cancelation:
“The VS127 from Manchester to New York JFK on 15 January, operating on an Airbus A330, was cancelled to provide time for precautionary additional engineering maintenance checks, which allowed our team the maximum time to complete their inspections.”
“The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority and this was not compromised at any point. We always work well above industry safety standards and the aircraft is now back in service. We’d like to apologise to our customers for the delay to their journeys.”
Meanwhile here’s what the Airbus A330 engineer at the airport had to say about the issues with the aircraft:
“Aviation safety is our number one priority. The panel is a secondary structure panel, used to improve the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft.”
“Each of these panels has 119 fasteners so there was no impact to the structural integrity or load capability of the wing, and the aircraft was safe to operate. As a precautionary measure, the aircraft underwent an additional maintenance check, and the fasteners were replaced.”
How unusual that a passenger noticed this
Maintenance issues happen, so the cancelation as such isn’t the interesting part of this story, in my opinion. What I’m most intrigued by is that it was a passenger who reportedly brought this to the attention of the crew.
I can’t help but wonder about the details of that. Passengers will randomly make all kinds of observations about what they perceive to be safe or not safe, and typically it’s due to lack of understanding of how aircraft operate. That’s why airlines have detailed checklists they go through to ensure safe operation (well, except for the 737 MAX, I guess).
In this case, I wonder if it was just a random passenger who noticed this, or was it an off-duty pilot or engineer? I’m also curious how it was then escalated. Was this shared with a flight attendant, and the flight attendant decided it was worth sharing this with the pilots, or…?
Bottom line
A transatlantic Virgin Atlantic flight was canceled after some missing caps were discovered on a wing panel. These reportedly weren’t discovered during pre-flight checks by the crew, but rather were discovered by a passenger, who alerted the crew.
What do you make of this Virgin Atlantic flight cancelation story?
A random passenger would not have known that anything was missing. I assume it was a pilot, cabin crew member, or engineer.
In March or April 1981, I boarded a TWA Fight from JFK to Athens on a 747-SP (I think it was an “SP” — it was for longer range flights than the regular 747s). A USAF colleague and I were assigned seats in a three-seat bank by an emergency exit. When we sat down the whole set of three seats “rocked” — it was not secured properly to the deck. I pointed this out to...
In March or April 1981, I boarded a TWA Fight from JFK to Athens on a 747-SP (I think it was an “SP” — it was for longer range flights than the regular 747s). A USAF colleague and I were assigned seats in a three-seat bank by an emergency exit. When we sat down the whole set of three seats “rocked” — it was not secured properly to the deck. I pointed this out to a flight attendant and she told one of the pilots. They called maintenance and we waited. The maintenance guy arrived without a tool belt and disappeared to get tools. While waiting, I got out my small crescent wrench and Swiss Army knife (which we were allowed to carry on commercial flights in those days) and got down on my hands & knees and re-secured the seat. The pilot in the meantime announced our departure was delayed due to a mechanical problem — which we knew was our “loose seat.”. I told the flight attendant that our seat was fuxed, but she said we had to wait for the maintenance man to check it out before we could depart. Finally the maintenance guy returned, inspected my fix of the seat, pronounced it “fixed.” Then we departed for Athens — about half an hour late.
I appreciate that Virgin Atlantic listened to the passwnger observation and took a cautious approach to the situation. We'll done!
Not all angels have wings.
No plane should have any thing missing on it it’s happening a lot lately plane doors coming of missing bolts this should not be happening at all it’s becoming a pattern now what’s going on in the last 3 weeks to many planes have had problems lack of checks in my book much to many planes are having problems it seems it being doing deliberately all them Boeing’s plane s bolts of a virgin plane doors of another plane something going on hear
4 missing bolts was the cause of this F-117 crash in 1997:
http://edition.cnn.com/US/9712/12/briefs/stealth.fighter.crash
Not quite as dramatic but once shortly after boarding I noticed something broken underneath the seat in front of me with a bit of sharpish looking fractured metal sticking down not too far from where my feet/ankles could get. I decided to tell cabin crew - they said they’d tell flight deck. Turned out it was in the tech log, had been inspected by an certified engineer and signed off as safe. The broken part...
Not quite as dramatic but once shortly after boarding I noticed something broken underneath the seat in front of me with a bit of sharpish looking fractured metal sticking down not too far from where my feet/ankles could get. I decided to tell cabin crew - they said they’d tell flight deck. Turned out it was in the tech log, had been inspected by an certified engineer and signed off as safe. The broken part was in fact part of the seat recline mechanism and so my report meant the crew kept checking that the passenger in the seat was only reclining the seat as far as his neighbour could for my comfort. Crew thanked me for reporting it promptly. Another later occasion (on BA short haul) the stuff that converts some middle seats in the front rows into a console between the aisle and window seats for business class use was not stowed correctly on my husband’s seat. I knew this was a problem as it would stop him putting his feet right back for the brace position - he was dismissive but I called crew thinking they’d just sort it. Turned out it was jammed and needed a technician to fix or neither of us could sit there (me in window.) Fortunately bloke with high viz and tool box appeared after boarding complete, fixed the seat and we were saved a move down the back - the flight looked pretty full so this could have been a not so great outcome at all. See something, say something! Bad luck the missing screw caps cancelled the flight but better safe than sorry…
Just as a small point of detail, I think the aircraft registration was probably G-VGEM rather than G-VGEN. The latter does not exist in Virgin’s fleet, but the former does.
Once canceled a Sunwing flight when I noticed a hole under the wing after my wing inspection as a de-icer… Miss working in ops
A Decade ago I was on SQ at JFK and realized that Although it was not snowing, the wings were coated in snow and ice from the snow 11 hours prior. I risked arrest by demanding the cabin crew make sure the cockpit was aware. I also texted my family. When the doors closed the Captain announced we would be waiting for our turn at deicing and likely be delayed. The delay announcement was music to my ears!
As flawed as these anecdotes make the system sound, how many fatalities are we seeing in commercial aviation as a result of these issues?
Brodie, if the missing screws were on the leading edge , even one of them it’s a no go item. I’m guessing that was the situation.
I think I remember an old documentary where a passenger on a plane actually saw a man out on the wing, actually tampering with one of the motors!!. But in the end, he was just some kind of a nut .
That was The Twilight Zone movie. Great scene.
The wings for airbus aircraft are made 30 miles from Manchester airport. It is Possible an engineer from airbus who worked on the wings sptted the missing bits
G-VGEM
What is troubling is the failure of the pre-flight walk around to discover this visible problem.
Unless the fasteners were on the top of the wing. Which is what the passenger would be able to see.
Of course it’s gotta be G-VGEN that has lose screws and obsessively need to make sure what’s inside belongs to G-VGEN
You won’t have any problems like this on G-MEAT
It was actually G-VGEM. VAA name their planes in connection with the registration, in this case ‘Diamond Lady’.
I stand corrected.
I'm just quoting the registration from the post without fact checks. Or maybe there is a plane named 'Salad Lady'.
On a UA 772 ORD-LHR decades ago I noticed what looked like a length of black rubber hose or weatherstrip dangling from one of the ailerons/flaps inboard of the port engine and brought it up with the crew. We ended up back at the gate, and deplaned to a replacement.
Glad I looked out there... but I wasn't the only one who apprised crew.
Former fighter jet mechanic here. Let me tell you how big of a non-issue 4 screws missing on a panel with 119 screws. Missing screws are rather common and most likely were a broken nut plate. Instead of removing 119 screws so you can access the nut plate, you document the missing screws in the aircraft forms so everyone is aware. There are tolerances on how many screws can be missing, and only once you...
Former fighter jet mechanic here. Let me tell you how big of a non-issue 4 screws missing on a panel with 119 screws. Missing screws are rather common and most likely were a broken nut plate. Instead of removing 119 screws so you can access the nut plate, you document the missing screws in the aircraft forms so everyone is aware. There are tolerances on how many screws can be missing, and only once you pass the threshold do you remove the panel and fix the nut plate.
It's actually rare to find a plane without missing screws on a panel somewhere. And I know of no mechanic of who pull a panel with 119 screws to replace 4 missing ones. I used to have to do it with a speed handle as cordless drills were not in use in the mid 90's, and it literally was the worst part of the job. Besides getting burned everyday taking oil samples, and cut often where super glue is your best friend.
I'm shocked this flight was cancelled. It doesn't make a lick of sense.
I guess the question is, was this caught in preflight? I’m guessing not, otherwise there wouldn’t have been a need to investigate further. Unless maybe it was an optics thing, and VS didn’t want the appearance of improperly mantained aircraft.
"I'm shocked this flight was cancelled. It doesn't make a lick of sense."
A model variant is grounded, and a major manufacturer's competence has been questioned in the media every day for the last week (over what may turn out to be missing or damaged screws), and you're wondering why Virgin likely wanted to hush the visuals of this situation in the most expedient way possible?
You did not comprehend anything I said. If you had you would have realized 4 missing screws is not a matter of optics. Lord
I observed a massive leak of fluorescent green fluid from the wing on a takeoff of an Air Canada 737 MAX plane in IAH and told a flight attendant, who took it seriously and promptly called the senior flight attendant, who then explained it was de-icing fluid remaining from the previous flight from Canada.
Flight attendants were very dismissive of me when I pointed out there was something wrong with left phalange. Nice of them to listen to somebody, for once.
Flight attendants were dismissive of a passenger who noticed a hole in the wing of an Air France Concorde departing from IAD. He insisted and the pilot came to see it and was shocked.
Yup. June 14, 1979. Ship F-BVFC.
Tire blew out so bad that it sent rubber and fragments of the water-deflectors not only into, but clear THROUGH, the left wing. It cased a massive fuel leak, disrupted the aircraft's trim, and damaged...
Yup. June 14, 1979. Ship F-BVFC.
Tire blew out so bad that it sent rubber and fragments of the water-deflectors not only into, but clear THROUGH, the left wing. It cased a massive fuel leak, disrupted the aircraft's trim, and damaged a secondary hydraulic line.
PICTURE of the damage, here:
https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/images/lessons_learned/F-BTSC/Dulles_damage.jpg
.......but it still took a passenger's insistence for a pilot to come look at the damage, before it was decided to discontinue the flight!
Holly crap that’s a big hole, how anyone could see that and think it’s ok is beyond me.
@Ryan
I think it was already in flight too. The flight attendant was probably just so used to telling people that there's nothing to worry about, that (s)he didn't even actually look.
@joepro same.
Shocking, then I then found out the plane didn’t even have a left phalange! Needless to say, I got off the plane.
Lol phalange okay Phoebe.